Powerful devotional energy began to emit from her body.
The clouds gathered around the mountain rumbled in thunder. The chilly winds around became more powerful. And the entire mountain began to shake as if nature was angry.
Dharani continued, "How dare he lay violent hands upon the dignity of women; how dare he shatter the homes of the righteous and walk in the company of those who delight in chaos… in that case, his karma will refuse him any easy death. Let his death not come on a battlefield like a warrior… let his death come in circumstances that become an example in history. Since he thinks women are weak and vulnerable, let his end come from the hand of a woman. I curse him as such..."
Narakasura felt a brief flash of satisfaction that the curse had fallen where he intended.
It is entirely why he had carried the Umbrella of Varuna Dev, the divine artifact that wouldn't let anyone except for Tridev see through his words. Whatever he says will appear as truth to the listeners. And now, with firm accusations, he had successfully carried out his revenge.
But then, almost at once, a colder thought followed: the same words that condemned Karna also protected him, for if death could come only from a woman, then no male warrior, including Narakasura himself, would ever be able to strike the final blow.
If Karna's death cannot occur on the battlefield, wouldn't that essentially make him invincible on the battlefield?
He pushed the thought aside. The more important truth was that the woman before him had poured out nearly every drop of the power she had stored through years of silence.
"Hahahaha..."
He began to laugh. The polite mask fell away. Suddenly he reached out and closed his hand around her wrist.
Dharani stared at him in shock.
"What are you doing?"
Narakasura's laughter grew louder.
"Now that you have spent the greater part of your strength upon that curse, you are no longer of any use to me. This is why women were never to be trusted with power. You lack the capacity to remain calm and to act according to the true nature of events. You who were destined to become my death have instead been rendered harmless—by the sacrifice of Mura to your flames and by the gift of your own curse to my enemy. It is time for you to become a prisoner and spend the rest of your life inside a cell. As long as you live, I myself will remain beyond the reach of Yamaraj."
"What?"
The full weight of the deception struck her at once.
"You deceived me?"
She understood that she had cursed an innocent man because of a lie. A second, sharper rage rose inside her and drew upon the last thin thread of energy still left. Pale flames flared around her body and scorched the hand that held her.
"Ssss"
Narakasura released her with a hiss of pain. He looked at her in surprise.
In the same instant, the fire turned inward and wrapped her completely. Through the rising light she looked at him and spoke one final time.
"By this act you have filled the vessel of your sins to the brim. One day I will return and become the death you tried so hard to avoid."
Even as the flames continued their work, a single tear slipped from the corner of her eye. She whispered an apology meant for the man she had never met.
"Forgive me… for the one I cursed without knowing. If I am granted another birth, let me be born as your daughter, so that I may care for you in your old age and make some small atonement for this injustice."
*
Far away in the kingdom of Anga at Shiva Mandir;
Karna sat in the quiet rhythm of his daily puja.
Suddenly, a jolt moved through his body like a distant tremor felt through deep water. With it came the clear echo of a woman's voice pronouncing the words of a curse, and the brief, vivid image of Dharani's face.
His eyes opened at once. He remained perfectly still while the meaning of what he had felt settled into place.
"Why would she curse me? What had happened upon Nanda Parvat?"
When the residual echo of the curse faded, Karna rose from the stone floor.
"I need to return once more to meet Dharani Mata. It is understandable if she cursed me because I tried to shield her and almost disrupted her tapasya unknowingly, but I laid my violent hands on the dignity of women? When did I do that? Never once in my life had I ever disrespected a woman. Why would she curse me to die in the hands of a woman as soon as she opened her eyes?"
***
The journey from Anga to the sacred heights of Nanda Parvat took little time for Karna's divine chariot, yet with every passing moment an uneasiness continued to grow within his heart.
When at last the seven celestial horses descended upon the familiar mountain where he had once watched over Dharani's tapasya, the first thing that greeted him was not the peaceful silence he remembered, but the bitter smell of burnt wood still lingering in the cold mountain wind.
Karna stepped down from the chariot. The snow beneath his boots gave a dull crunch. His eyes slowly swept across the mountainside.
Ancient cedar trees lay broken across the slopes as though giants had uprooted them with brute force and cast them aside.
Entire cliffs had collapsed into the valleys below, leaving fresh scars upon the sacred mountain.
Hermitages that had once echoed with the chants of sages now stood blackened and abandoned, their charred beams still releasing faint wisps of smoke despite the passing of days.
Even the mountain itself seemed quieter than before, as though grief had settled over every rock and every tree.
"What happened here?"
His voice was barely louder than the wind. There were no signs of battle, no bodies, no lingering Asuric army—only the aftermath of the destruction.
His gaze eventually settled upon the familiar stone where Dharani had once remained immersed in meditation. It was empty.
For several moments Karna simply stood there.
The silence pressed heavily against his chest. He slowly walked toward the stone and lowered himself onto one knee.
His fingers brushed across the untouched snow; the cold immediately bit against his skin. Closing his eyes, he allowed his breathing to slow until everything around him gradually disappeared from his awareness.
"Divyadrishti…"
The world around him dissolved. Time itself began flowing backwards.
He saw the countless Asuras descending upon Nanda Parvat. He saw forests burning beneath black flames, hermitages collapsing, sages fleeing. Then he saw General Mura climbing the mountain, the divine earrings upon his ears, his hands reaching toward Dharani. Golden flames. Ash.
Karna's brows slowly knitted together.
"So… they used Aditi Mata's earrings."
The vision continued.
He watched Narakasura ascend beneath the shelter of Varuna's divine umbrella.
He watched him stand before Dharani.
He listened to every lie, every carefully chosen word, every false concern, every poisoned sentence. The deeper the vision continued, the colder Karna's face became.
Then he saw Dharani raise her hand. He heard the curse once again.
"Let his end come only from the hand of a woman."
Silence. Karna remained motionless.
The vision did not end there. He watched Narakasura laugh. He watched the deception revealed. He watched Dharani's expression collapse beneath the crushing realization that she had cursed an innocent man. Then golden flames surrounded her body.
The vision disappeared.
Karna's eyes slowly opened. The mountain wind continued blowing across the summit. His breathing had become noticeably heavier.
"So… this is how it happened."